Tensions simmer in Myanmar's Mandalay city after Buddhist-Muslim clashes

Myanmar police stand guard on a street in Mandalay in central Myanmar on July 3, 2014. Police patrolled tense streets in Myanmar's second-largest city on Friday, July 4, 2014 as anger and disbelief rippled through violence-hit communities following deadly Buddhist-Muslim clashes that raised fears of spreading unrest. -- PHOTO: AFP

Calm returned to Mandalay after the city was placed under curfew on Thursday to quell violence that saw mobs wielding airguns, swords, rocks and other weapons go on a rampage, leaving one Buddhist and one Muslim dead.

It was the latest in a string of deadly religious clashes that have plagued the former junta-run nation for two years, prompting warnings that the country's fragile transition to democracy could be imperilled.

Violence broke out on Tuesday after an accusation of a rape of a Buddhist woman by two Muslim men from a local tea shop was spread on the Internet, prompting a crowd of hundreds to gather near the business, hurling stones and damaging property.